Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Reaches New 52-Week High Following Dividend Announcement

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Monday after the company announced a dividend. The stock traded as high as C$53.95 and last traded at C$53.47, with a volume of 5401747 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$53.13.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This is a positive change from Great-West Lifeco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.54%. Great-West Lifeco’s payout ratio is currently 50.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on GWO. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Great-West Lifeco from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$52.00 to C$54.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. CIBC upgraded shares of Great-West Lifeco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from C$56.00 to C$60.00 in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$45.00 to C$46.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, TD Securities upgraded shares of Great-West Lifeco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from C$49.00 to C$53.00 in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$52.22.

Great-West Lifeco Price Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average is C$48.87 and its 200 day moving average is C$47.44. The stock has a market cap of C$50.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Senior Officer Linda Kerrigan sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$51.64, for a total value of C$438,927.25. Also, Senior Officer David Martin Harney sold 562 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$47.55, for a total transaction of C$26,721.58. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 60,062 shares of company stock valued at $3,149,764. Insiders own 70.70% of the company’s stock.

Great-West Lifeco Company Profile

Great-West Lifeco is one of the three big Canadian life insurance firms. With just under half of the firm’s profit and revenue in Canada, Great-West also operates in the U.S. and Europe. In Canada, Great-West provides both individual and group insurance. In the United States, Great-West operates Putnam Investments and defined-contribution recordkeeping firm Empower Retirement.